triguing amusement of watching a
great illusionist had to recede before that urgent need. I regained the
path below and thinking I would go down to the boat in case he had
returned I started back. The torch showed me a steep descent of rubble
where a cave-in had occurred, a gash in the edge of the path, I thought
at first it was the way down to the jetty and I flashed the lamp
steadily upon the bottom. There was someone lying down there. It was not
long before I was kneeling over young Siddons.

"At first, you know, I really thought he was dead. He was lying face
upward and his forehead had been gouged open above the left eye with
some jagged edge and was bleeding in thick, slow runnels that
disappeared into his curly hair. He lay perfectly motionless, but as I
bent over him and searched the soft, delicate face in the first horror
of grief, the eyes opened wide and blinked in a gaze of unconscious
enquiry.

"'What is it, my boy?' I asked and after seeming to collect himself he
asked, in perfect calmness:

"'Who is that?'

"'The Chief,' I answered. 'Did you fall?' He closed his eyes and made an
effort to move. I put my arm around him. He said:

"'Chief, is the boat still there?' I told him it was.

"'Help me up. Be careful. I think my collar-bone is broken again. Oh,
Lord! Does--does the Old Man know?'

"'It was he sent me,' I said. 'He was afraid you had had an accident.
Does that hurt?'

"'No--but catch hold of me lower down, will you?'

"'How did it happen? Did you slip?'

"'Oh, Lord! Yes--slipped, you know--look out!'

"'I thought you were dead,' I said jocularly, as we reached the path.

"And under his breath he made a remark that Captain Macedoine's daughter
had made to me not so many hours before.

"He said he wished he was."

CHAPTER IV

"By Jove," said Mr. Spenlove, suddenly, after a long silence, "I have
often wondered what might have happened to us if young Siddons hadn't
tumbled down there and smashed himself up. I mean, supposing our minds
hadn't been taken off the great subject of Captain Macedoine's financial
projects. Because, mind you, although I behaved in a very sagacious
manner while discussing the matter with Jack and his wife, I'm not at
all prepared to say that I wouldn't have submitted if Jack had urged it
in his tempestuous way. The psychology of being stung is a very
complicated affair. We pride ourselves on our strong, clear vision and
so forth, but it is very largel